NASCAR driver Kyle Petty leads charity ride through Carlsbad

Photo by Zack Ponce/Current-Argus
Former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and a group of around 200 bikers stopped in Carlsbad to raise money for the 20th anniversary of the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America to help children with chronic illnesses.

CARLSBAD >> One man's dream just so happened to include a stop, however brief, though the city of Carlsbad.

The bark of motorcycle engines revving stung the air as hundreds of avid bikers rode southbound on Canal Street and veered off at the Shell gas station for an event never before seen in Eddy County.

Former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty led the group through Southeastern New Mexico for the 20th anniversary of his Charity Ride Across America, a motorcycle ride across the country to raise money and awareness for children with chronic illnesses.

Shortly after beginning the charity ride in 1994, Petty's son Adam toured a year-round camp for seriously ill children in Florida and decided that he wanted to help build the same type of get-away for ill children in his home state of North Carolina.

Photo by Zack Ponce/Current-Argus
Around 200 bikers travel southbound on Canal Street to make a pit stop at the Shell gas stataion on the intersection at Church Street.

Adam Petty was killed during a race in 2000 before he could begin such a place of refuge, but Kyle Petty helped turn his son's dream into a reality with the establishment of Victory Junction in 2004. The year-long camp located in Randleman, North Carolina, serves children from the ages of six to 16 and the money donated from the charity race is used to fund the camp.

"We lost a son but we gained 17,000 other kids," said Kyle Petty. "It's been amazing. Once these kids come to camp, to watch them have fun has been the coolest part."

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Petty signed autographs at the Shell gas station before grabbing lunch at the Church Street Grill and was accompanied on the cross-country trip by NASCAR drivers Geoff Bodine and Harry Gant, former Dallas Cowboys running back Herschel Walker, Top Gear America co-host Rutledge Wood and former U.S. Representative from Florida Col. Allen West, who currently works as a commentator at Fox News.

The motorcycle ride began in Carlsbad, California, and the riders will pass through Midland, Texas, Austin, New Orleans and Tallahassee, Florida before wrapping up at Daytona Beach.

"It's been a lot of fun," Petty said. "We've just met a lot of people and it's been a good experience. The people who were riding with us are just cool people."